Author Notes

New chapter up! So regarding the OC characters, the information will be at the end.

Chapter 18

Family Bonding

Ruby didn't stay asleep for long and they ended up babysitting the delirious night guard for the rest of the night.

"It's hot." The girl complained. "Like, desert hot."

Chica rolled her eyes. "Yes Ruby. It was the Arctic a moment ago too."

"That's it. Shirt's coming off." She decided, sitting up and reaching to pull up her shirt.

The chicken dived forward and grabbed her hand.

"No no no no no no." she shook her head frantically. "Shirt stays on."

"Chiiiiiiiiicaaaaaa." She whined, tugging ineffectually at the shirt with her other hand.

"No buts about this. Bonnie, get her some ice water." She called to the rabbit.

He nodded and left to fetch the sixth glass of water.

It took them a moment to notice that she had fallen silent again and was staring at the chicken strangely.

"Chica?" she whispered.

The chicken looked back at her. "Yes?"

"The monkey's back." Ruby hissed.

"Is he now Ruby?" Freddy asked, sitting in one of the other chairs and watching them in amusement.

She wasn't easier to deal with when sick, not by a long shot. But she was entertaining. Her hallucinations were rather vivid and as the night wore on, things got worse just like she had warned them would happen when she was still somewhat lucid.

A few minutes later she was drinking from the glass Bonnie brought back. Once it was drained she flopped down on the couch again. Silence fell and everyone relaxed for a while.

"You don't have to do this." Ruby mumbled in a rare moment of awareness. "I know I'm terrible when I'm sick."

She peeked over the pillow at them but they waved her off.

"It's no problem Ruby." Chica smiled warmly. "But try and get some sleep. It'll be best for you."

She nodded slowly, eyes dulling again before disappearing behind the pillow once more.

"You remind me of my mom." She admitted softly.

Everyone froze and stared at her but she was already starting to doze.

"Keep it together Chica." Foxy chuckled, noticing Chica's happy, frazzled expression.

"But she said her mom. Is that good or bad? Did it make her happy or upset?" she fretted.

Bonnie leaned over. "She looks pretty happy."

Ruby was snuggled in a pile of blankets hugging the pillow with a slight smile tugging at her lips.

"She does I guess. How long do you think she'll sleep this time?" Goldy wondered.

"Hopefully a decent amount. At least there'll be no drama tonight." Freddy sighed.

A calm night was never meant to be.

Three hours later later Freddy was standing, fuming, in front of Goldy and Bonnie who were covered in glitter and bedazzler gemstones respectively.

"And WHY did you think that was a good idea?" he asked furiously.

Bonnie shrugged while Goldy wrung her hands guiltily.

"It's boring without Ruby causing chaos." The rabbit admitted.

Before Freddy could yell at them, laughter rang out from the nearby doorway.

They turned to see Ruby supporting herself against the doorway but eyes looking clearer and face less flushed.

"I'm so proud." She grinned at them.

Bonnie grinned back and Goldy teleported over to her, half to get away from a lecture and half out of concern.

"Should you be up Ruby?" she asked.

"I'm feeling better." The night guard admitted. "Memory's a little fuzzy though. Did I do anything weird?"

One look at their faces and she groaned. "What did I do? I didn't strip again did I?"

Goldy giggled a little. "No. Chica stopped you."

"You did hallucinate a bunch of animals." Bonnie admitted.

"Called everyone 'cuddly' too." Goldy added.

Ruby groaned again. "Sorry about the trouble."

She stretched carefully, still mindful of her achy body.

"There was one other thing." Freddy murmured.

She tilted her head in question.

"You mentioned…well, that you were an…orphan." He explained uncomfortably as Foxy and Chica walked up to them from their trip to the kitchen.

Ruby stilled immediately. She averted her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. I get a bit…open…when I'm sick. Sorry."

They stood around a bit awkwardly for a moment before Ruby broke the tense atmosphere as usual.

"Well at least I don't have to deal with telling you all at a later stage." She smiled at them. "Thanks for stopping me from doing anything stupid."

They were relieved to see that she wasn't upset.

"Are you feeling better?" Chica asked.

"Yeah. Lots." She coughed a little but it was nothing like before. "I'll be fine now. Past the worst of it."

"That's good." Foxy held out the glass of water.

She accepted it gratefully and drank slowly.

"Everything you do, you go all in and lose interest quickly don't you? Even getting sick." Bonnie chuckled.

Ruby grinned at him. "Of course, is there any other way?"

"Well there's only an hour of your shift left. How about you sit down and relax until it's time to go home? Are you sure no one can pick you up? Maybe one of the employees can drive you home?" Foxy asked, worried about letting her walk home by herself.

Ruby shook her head a little violently. "No! Uh no. I…I don't do…cars. I'll be fine walking back."

She averted her eyes, unable to hide the flash of panic that appeared in her eyes. Her hands clenched around the glass, knuckles turning white.

The 'bots looked at each other worriedly. Guess no one could walk away from something like that without some emotional scars.

"Don't worry." Freddy assured her. "I'm sure the staff wouldn't mind you staying here a little longer after your shift until you're feeling better."

Before she could argue again, Bonnie jumped in. "We're just worried Ruby. We don't want you walking home in the dark while you're sick. At least wait until its lighter?"

She met their worried gazes and sighed in defeat. "Alright."

They smiled in relief.

"Thanks lass. Now how about you go lie down again?" Foxy suggested.

She pulled a face. "But I'm booooooooooored." She whined.

They chuckled and shooed the sick night guard back into the room.

"Be good and let us take care of you." Chica pushed her back on the couch.

She mumbled something under her breath but didn't seem too annoyed.

They suspected that her reluctance to be taken care of stemmed more from her inexperience with it. And they were determined to change that.

For the rest of her shift she alternated between dozing and holding conversations about different pranks with Bonnie and Goldy.

Eventually the chimes went off and Ruby didn't even seem to notice. She was lightly dozing at that point and they decided to leave her be and deal with the employees themselves. That would probably be…interesting, at the very least.

When it came time for the cleaners to arrive most of the 'bots lefts to go 'talk' to them. They didn't want them waking their night guard up after all.

Goldy stayed behind to keep an eye on her.

Surprisingly the manager arrived with the cleaners, probably something about checking his office for any vengeful traps.

The group felt true terror for the first time when they found the 'bots waiting for them. The animatronics threatened (very politely of course) that they would regret waking Ruby up and insisted that she stay until there was enough light to walk home safely. Freddy also pulled the manager aside and scolded him for overworking Ruby since he suspected the double shifts that she worked sometimes had contributed to the sudden onset.

After terrifying a promise to take her health into account and that the cleaners would be quiet, the 'bots wandered off. Bonnie muttered a bland apology regarding the glitter and went off to clean himself up.

"That was…" one of the employees stuttered, clutching at his heart.

"Y-yeah." Another nodded. "I know what you mean."

Behind them the manager had dropped in a dead faint.

Ruby woke to feeling achy and fuzzy, but worlds better than before. She sat up and stretched carefully, noticing the blanket that fell off her with the movement. The girl smiled fondly. The 'bots really could be very sweet and considerate.

She reached for one of the many jackets that she vaguely remembered putting on before leaving for work and pulled out her cellphone.

"Shoot." She muttered when she saw the time. "It's almost eight."

There were about twenty missed calls as well. With a sigh she called back and waited for the explosion.

"Ruby! Where are you? Why aren't you home? Why haven't you answered? Do you know how worried I was-" the frantic voice on the other side of the line spilled over into the quiet room.

"Hi Alice." Ruby cut her off, knowing that the guardian would continue infinitely if she could. "I'm sorry about all this. I actually caught a cold and was pretty out of it all night."

"You're sick?! Oh why didn't I notice? You did seem a bit out of sorts yesterday. Why did you go to work then? You should have stayed home." Alice fretted.

"Don't worry. Everything's fine Alice. A few of my…co-workers made sure that I was okay." Ruby smiled slightly.

"Oh that's wonderful. I'm so glad." She sounded relieved.

"I'll just be back late since they didn't want me walking around until it was daylight. And then I fell asleep so I'll only leave in a few minutes." She stifled a yawn as she said that.

"Alright. Do you want me to come and walk you home?" Alice asked sympathetically.

She knew about Ruby's aversion to cars and the reason behind it.

"Nah. I'll be fine. Already feeling better." She smiled. "See you later Alice."

It sounded like she was about argue but then just sighed. "Alright honey. Just…be careful. Okay?"

"I will. Bye Alice."

"Goodbye Ruby."

Ruby stared at the phone for a long time. She knew that Alice worried about her. However, she also knew that the other kids were already difficult to deal with. She didn't want to cause any trouble for the kind woman.

"She sounded nice." Goldy murmured, materializing near her.

Ruby didn't even flinch, having gotten used to the strange feeling of being watched when the bear was around.

"She is." Ruby nodded, starting to gather her things. "The others already settled in their places?"

Goldy nodded. "The cleaners were terrified into keeping quiet so that they wouldn't wake you up."

Ruby chuckled. "Awww that's so sweet." She cooed.

The golden suit laughed. "You're cruel to the employees."

"I know. But that's just me." She shrugged.

"We wouldn't want anyone else." Goldy beamed and Ruby actually flushed.

"Thanks. Well I'd better get home before they call the police again to say I'm missing. Wouldn't be the first time." She chuckled.

"See you tomorrow Ruby." Goldy waved, disappearing from view.

"Bye Goldy." Ruby smiled and turned to the door.

Still coughing slightly, she made her way to the front door. A few employees jumped when she passed them. Some greeted her with a smile and asked about her health. She waved off the concerns and reached the exit rather quickly.

"See ya tomorrow." She waved at the stage and reached for the door handle before pausing. "And thanks again."

Then she was gone, door closing softly.

As Ruby opened the door to the large house that accommodated the orphans, she was swept up in a tight hug. Squeaking in surprise she looked up at Alice. The guardian had tears in her eyes and was babbling about how worried she had been.

"Sorry Alice." Ruby murmured tiredly.

"Oh you look so tired. Let's get you to bed immediately." She ushered Ruby up to her room hurriedly. "Please be more careful Ruby."

"I will. Ruby rolled her eyes affectionately as she assured the easily panicked woman.

"Something happen?" a voice asked from the doorway.

The two turned to look over the stair railings.

"Hey Clint." Ruby greeted the other guardian. "You're back early."

He smiled good-naturedly at them. "Finished early. So what happened?"

"Ruby just gave me a mini-heart attack." Alice answered dramatically.

Both Ruby and Clint rolled their eyes. He looked at Ruby for an answer. She covered another yawn before talking.

"Kind of got sick at work and so got back late. My co-workers took care of me though." She explained.

"Ah, you're too dedicated a worker." Clint looked amused. "Do anything entertaining while sick this time? Or was there another fire incident?"

"Hey! That was the kids not me!" she pouted.

He laughed. "Get to bed kid. You're exhausted."

Grumbling something under her breath, Ruby staggered off to her room.

The guardians waited until she was gone to look at each other worriedly.

"She tries to take on too much by herself." Clint murmured.

"I know. I worry about her. She never tells us anything. She's always putting the other kids first." Alice rubbed her arms nervously.

Clint placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Clint. I worry. About her self-confidence. Her self-esteem. She seems fine all the time, but when does she ever do anything for herself? It's always to help someone else. I really do worry, about her doing something that gets her hurt. She's taken on a job as a night security guard! I know she's capable but it's dangerous." She looked up at Clint, concern shining in her eyes. "The psychologist did warn us about self-destructive behaviour. I thought she was getting better, but what if she isn't? What if she still blames herself? We wouldn't even know if she was still hurting herself…"

Clint tightened his hold on her shoulder. "She IS getting better, already is better Alice. She's a strong kid. I think she's passed that dark phase of her life now. She just needs us to help her stay on this road of healing. And I think taking that job…I think that's her way of helping herself. She was rather determined to get the job, don't you think? Even though it takes away time she could spend with the kids. I don't think she would have done that even a year ago. Just trust her. She knows what she's doing."

Alice gave Clint a watery smile.

"You're right, as usual." She murmured.

"Alright, then how about breakfast!" he grinned. "I smell waffles!"

She laughed at him and the two headed into the kitchen.

Above them, on the second floor, Ruby leaned against the wall and sighed.

"Didn't mean to worry her that much." She whispered.

She would admit it. She had been in a really bad place for a long time after the accident. She had blamed herself for being the only survivor. No one, not even anyone from the other car involved had survived. Only her. Something like that could really mess a kid up. Survivor's guilt, she thought it was called.

Logically it didn't make sense, but sometimes logic didn't help. She had to finally accept it herself, that it wasn't her fault.

She'd cried a lot the night she did. Tears of relief, pain and grief. But she did get better after that. And she didn't think she was engaging in self-destructive behaviour. She'd never doubted that she could win against the 'bots, against the ghosts.

And…honestly…she WAS there for more selfish reasons. Freddy's held some of her happiest memories. It had hurt to see the 'bots in the beginning, considering how intertwined they were in those memories. Then she'd gotten distracted by the challenge of surviving and helping them. After the challenge was over and the ghosts beaten, it didn't really hurt anymore.

Now she had some more happy memories there, ones that didn't have a bitter undertone.

She smiled slightly. Being there kind of gave her the same feeling she had around Ricky. Like she was surrounded by family again.

She sighed again and stood up from her seat on the floor. Falling asleep there wouldn't really help her. She quietly entered her room and thumped on the bed.

Her head was still a bit fuzzy from the cold and her body still achy. Her heart however, was quite warm. She smiled against the blankets. It felt nice to be taken care of again.

Author Notes

OCs need a solid design. Please describe their appearance, their personality and their role in the story (example; orphan at the home, worker at the restaurant, fellow student at Ruby's or Ricky's school, customer, etc.) No animatronics unfortunately, sorry.

Thank you all for following this story and I hope you are still enjoying it. :)